Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Sorted by date Results 940 - 964 of 9971
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] IRONWOOD — The Ironwood Board of Education approved its budget for the 2022-2023 school year at their regular meeting on Monday. The board also completed their first reading of policy updates from the Michigan Association of School Boards and the educational consulting firm Neola. Carolyn Mieloszyk, the district’s administrative assistant and school board secretary, said that the recommended changes were not substantial. According to a policy overview from Neola, the changes include the addition of...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] MERCER, Wis. - Despite occasional rain throughout the weekend, the Mercer Open All-Species Fishing Tournament took place on a variety of public-access lakes that are south of County Road G. "It is the second year in this form," said Melissa Biszak, executive director of the Mercer Chamber of Commerce, the primary sponsor of what is billed as a "family-friendly" event. The event, which Biszak said had 35 participants this year, now includes two divisions:...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] WAKEFIELD — Wakefield has a full schedule of activities to celebrate Independence Day, with this year’s theme being “Generosity, Diversity, Unity.” Today, the Wakefield Historical Society will sponsor an open house at its Sunday Lake Street museum. The “Forchuly” event will run from 1 to 4 p.m. A corn hole tournament will be held at Den-O’s Sports Bar on Friday. Street dances will occur on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights at 8 p.m. on the corner of Sunday Lake and Hancock streets. On Sunday, the Wakefie...
BESSEMER - The 13th annual Geocache Dash starts today in Bessemer, as numerous Fourth of July events begin to unfold more than a week before the actual holiday. "It's very family-friendly," said dash organizer Scott Pospect on Thursday. Parents are welcome to bring children, and the only items needed to participate are a smartphone and a global-positioning system app. GPS coordinates will be available today, along with full rules, at bessemer4th.com. Pospect's geocache activity is different...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] IRONWOOD - The Gogebic Range Health Foundation has announced three recipients of the for the second year of the Jonathan A. Erickson Fund grants. The awardees include the Emberlight Ambassador Leadership Program, the Wakefield-Marenisco School Youth Skatepark Project and the Gogebic County Sheriff's Department for Project Life Saver. Andrea Bergman, executive director of the foundation presented two of the awardees with a check on Thursday morning....
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] BESSEMER — The Gogebic County Board of Commissioners approved area cities’ and schools’ millage requests at its regular meeting on Wednesday. Gogebic County Equalization Director Kathy Jo Koval said the county is requesting a levy of 6.6419 mills to be levied against a property tax base of $595,728,765. She said that the property tax base was established through an extensive sales analysis and review. Through analysis of hundreds of sales, the departments assessed properties at 50% of their true...
By Charity Smith [email protected] HURLEY - The annual Across the Borders community health fair returned to the Iron Belle Trail Tuesday. The annual event provides a way for residents to gather information on resources available to the aging in the community, while getting some exercise by walking the Iron Belle Trail from Hurley to Ironwood. Twenty-seven vendors representing a variety of organizations, governmental agencies and local businesses which provide various services to the elde...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] HURLEY — Iron County Highway Department head Mike Swartz gave the highway committee an update on their projects for the year at their monthly meeting on Tuesday. Swartz said that they finished repaving part of U.S. 51 with a mill and overlay from Iron Street in Hurley to County Road C. He said that they went back and resealed cracks on County Road G from Owl Lake Road to the intersection with County Road H and from there, to Cedar Lake Road. They also replaced some culverts on is County Road C f...
By MEGAN HUGHES [email protected] WAKEFIELD - The Wakefield-Marenisco School Board met on Monday evening for its monthly meeting. Members discussed the proposed budget for the 2022-2023 school year and heard an update regarding the window project. The budget was discussed in full at the finance meeting immediately before the board meeting, and the first reading was accepted unanimously by the board. Additionally, the board approved adding the Non-Homestead Millage Renewal Resolution to...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] Summer officially began Tuesday morning and mother nature got an early start baking the region in record-setting warm temperatures Monday. Monday afternoon’s heat officially rose to a record 94 degrees according to a National Weather Service recording at the Gogebic-Iron Wastewater Treatment Facility in Ironwood. The facility takes readings every 24 hours at 7 a.m., so the 94 degrees from Monday afternoon technically becomes the high for June 21 — or “the 24-hour period ending at 7 a.m. on Tuesd...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] IRONWOOD - Luther L. Wright K-12 School's last day of school was June 3, but Ironwood Area Schools staff are still serving meals to youth in the community over summer break. The school's summer food service program offers lunch at the Ironwood Depot Park from 11 a.m. to noon on Mondays through Fridays through Aug. 19. Lisa Ursini, a food services staff member, said that many people seem to think that only children from low-income families can get...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] IRONWOOD — The Historic Ironwood Theatre will host a concert at 7 p.m. on Saturday featuring local musicians led by multi-instrumentalist Tim Mesun for the theater’s 21st annual Barton Organ Benefit. Admission is by donation and the proceeds will be used for the maintenance and repair of the theater’s Barton organ — one of only six in its original place of installation in the country. “I always have a blast performing these benefit concerts, especially when I’m lucky enough to work with so many tal...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] LANSING — Governor Gretchen Whitmer awarded more than $1.7 million in Neighborhood Enhancement Program grants on Tuesday, including $45,000 to the city of Ironwood and $30,000 to the Gogebic-Ontonagon Community Action Agency. According to the release, these grants will help make necessary home repairs, energy efficient upgrades and neighborhood amenity improvements. The release says these rehabilitation activities can be used to lower costs for homeowners. “Every Michigander deserves a safe, aff...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] HURLEY - The Aging and Disability Resource Center of the North will host the third annual "Across the Borders" Senior Information and Awareness Walk on the Iron Belle Trail from Hurley to Ironwood Depot Park from 5 to 7 p.m. The event will feature booths spread out across that segment of the trail, from more than 20 local organizations which handle the care of seniors in various locations across both Michigan and Wisconsin. These include human service...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] ONTONAGON - Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park offers a scenic overview of Lake of the Clouds, but some people may be unable to fully experience the view because of their colorblindness. To make the overlook more inclusive to people with color deficiencies, park staff unveiled two scenic viewers with filters that help them see colors on Wednesday. "Color blindness can make visits to nature less appealing. While people with normal color vision s...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] HURLEY — The Hurley City Council agreed to “get the ball rolling” for work on Second Avenue by authorizing Jeff Seamandel of the consulting firm MSA Professional Services to bring a contract for them to sign to their next meeting in July. Street Commissioner Scott Santini said that this project will run the length of Second Avenue from Bernard to Iron streets. Seamandel said that work would not start until 2026. He said that the Wisconsin Department of Transportation would take out the aspha...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] IRONWOOD — Park progress provided good news at Monday evening’s meeting of the Ironwood City Commission, with members approving two projects aimed at enhancing two city parks. Commissioners voted to approve payment of $8,400 to Coleman Engineering Company to complete a survey in relation to Phase 2 of the city’s Southern Beltline Trail Acquisition. Community Development Director Tom Bergman noted that the city received a trust fund grant in 2018 from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to purch...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] WAKEFIELD — The city of Wakefield planning commission considered implementing an ordinance to regulate chickens on residential properties. According to city manager Rob brown there is a surplus of residences that maintain chickens within the city. He said under the current code residents are allowed to have as many chickens as they would like as long as they are not within 175 feet of another dwelling. He said the current code is very vague and doesn’t event specify whether or not roosters are permitte...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] HURLEY — Staffing shortages were the driving force behind several items that the Iron County Finance Committee discussed at their monthly meeting on Thursday, including a possible wage raise for county employees for 2023. Prior to the meeting, county supervisor Thomas Thompson asked that the wage raise be put on the agenda for discussion and possible action. Thompson said that he supported an increase in county employees’ wages, but he thought that the raises should be set by the department hea...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] IRONWOOD - After a related public hearing that drew no public comment, the Ironwood City Commission passed a new fiscal budget of $15,180,000 on Monday evening. The new budget, for which the vote was unanimous, will cover the fiscal year starting on July 1 and ending on June 30, 2023. "The budget is a living and breathing document that can be amended at any time throughout the year," reminded Paul Linn, finance director and treasurer. Linn, who presented...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] MERCER, Wis. — Persistent rain on Saturday morning reduced participation in two normally popular annual events in Mercer: the Lupine Junefest and the Mercer Bird Fest, both based in Carow Park. However, the people who did participate did not let the weather get in the way of a good time. That included nearly 100 bikers who chose varying Junefest routes that included the pleasure in seeing pink, purple and white lupines in full bloom along roadsides and next to various bodies of water. Brothers Bill W...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] IRONWOOD — Despite the rain, members of the local LGBTQ community and their allies celebrated the second annual Pride U.P. Saturday in Ironwood’s Downtown City Square. The event featured vendors, a free community lunch and live music. Some of the booths offered miniature pride flags, stickers and T-shirts. Some children ran around the park collecting the little flags and stickers, and hula-hooped to the music. Many people had various pride flags dra...
BESSEMER - The Bessemer Downtown Development Authority is seeking bids to have the concrete removed between the curb and the sidewalk between East Sellar Street and East Colby Street on South Sophie Street. DDA staff person Samantha Dorr said that funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Rural Development only covered the concrete demolition up to the southmost point of Sophie Street and cannot cover the north three quarters of the street. According to Dorr the city can pay for the...
WATERSMEET - Pint-sized pomp and circumstance took the lead on Thursday as Watersmeet K-12 School celebrated its kindergarten graduation in the cafeteria. Superintendent and Principal George R. Peterson, III provided the welcome, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance by the "Class of 2034." James Williams Jr., tribal chairman of the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, thanked teachers and noted the importance of education before leading the tribe's drum band in an honor...
